'Grannyscam' is back in Laguna Woods

LAGUNA WOODS- One resident said she got a phone call from a girl pretending to be her granddaughter, demanding she wire nearly $3,000 to Canada—and she isn't the only one.

Employees at the Postal Annex on El Toro Road, which offers money transfer services, said they see people fall victim to this scam and others like it at least twice a day—although they usually stop people and warn them before the money is sent.

"They are very vulnerable to falling for these creative scams," said Ashley Lencek, an employee at the Postal Annex.

Sylvia Schwartz, a Laguna Woods Village resident, said she got a phone call last week from a girl crying. The caller called her "Nana," a name her real granddaughter calls her, and said she needed money immediately because she had been in an accident.

"It's like my brain stopped," Schwartz said. "I wasn't thinking and I'm usually so aware of these scams."

The girl went on to tell Schwartz she was drinking and got into an accident in a rental car in Montreal. She told Schwartz she was in jail and needed her to wire $2,840 to the girl's lawyer. The caller directed her to get a tracking number on the money and she would call back to get it.

Schwartz said she rushed to a local Citibank off El Toro Road and the teller told her this was a scam. The Citibank would not comment on the incident.

Then Schwartz calmed down and began to reflect on the details of the call.

She said she realized her granddaughter did not have a lawyer or even a driver's license. She also realized that she had said her granddaughter's name, Rebecca, first, then the caller identified herself as Rebecca.

Schwartz then got in touch with her son, and realized Rebecca was safe at home.

"No sooner had I hung up with him, I got a call from this supposed granddaughter," Schwartz said. She then contacted the police and told them about the incident.

"They are very well aware of it, but they can't trace it," Schwartz said.

Reports of this kind of call last surfaced in Laguna Woods in August of 2008 when a couple nearly fell for a similar money transfer scam. The caller made similar demands asking for money to be sent to Canada after a rental car accident.

Lencek said she sees more scams that involve false promises, such as offering the person a car if they transfer a certain amount of money. She said she always asks customers if they know the sender before they transfer money and to make sure before they give the tracking number to anyone.

Sue Lencek, another employee at the Postal Annex, said she informs Western Union when she knows someone has been taken advantage of. She said they do a great job of protecting its customers who fall victim to scams.

"They cash it back," Lencek said of Western Union. "They are incredible about that."

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